Hand-Pieced Quilt Along... Finally Finished

Way back in January 2012 (yikes), I started Erin's Hand-Pieced Quilt Along. I loved it! It gave me something to look forward to each Friday when she posted the next block. Well, I had the top pieced together last summer, and this summer, I finally decided to get it quilted and bound. This WIP is finally finished.

Here it is!

 It will hang in my sewing/craft room someday, and I hope Peanut asks about it. Then I can talk to her about...

• loving what you do
• doing what you love
• not everything will come out perfect
• even if it's not perfect, you can still be proud of it

You see, there is no way I'm ever going to wash this wall quilt. I'm pretty sure it would fall apart. I'm not kidding. Sorry there are no close-ups... it's wavy, some triangle points are completely cut off, and the stitches are totally uneven.

 BUT, I still love it and I will be proud to hang it up. I started something and I finished it. And I'm OK with it being perfectly unperfect :)

PS: The scrappy binding is definitely my favorite. It took awhile to hand-sew the scraps together, but I managed to use scraps of each of the fabrics I used in the blocks to create the binding. I love it!

Linking up with Connie's Linky Tuesday and Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday and a new one that I've found called Link a Finish Friday over at Richard and Tanya Quilts... Links are on my sidebar!

Studio Spotlight

Jennifer over at Ellison Lane Quilts is having a "Studio Spotlight" series and has encouraged us to all share our "studios"...

Well, let's just say that ever since Peanut arrived and initially took over our 2nd bedroom (which used to be my sewing space), my sewing machine has been hopping around the apartment. For awhile, I was on the kitchen table, but then the kitchen table was sent back to SD with Grizz's parents. 

Have I mentioned that we're moving soon? ... maybe just a few times, right? :)

So, my sewing machine moved again onto this rolling TV tray/magazine holder.
BUT... I sold that on Craigslist, remember?

Thankfully, I've had quite a bit of handwork to do (I'm attaching the binding to my handsewn quilt!), so my sewing studio has been on this rocking chair :)

If I get to really sew again before we move (we're moving in about a month), I'll probably have to move the machine onto our kitchen counter or something, ha! Until then, my faithful machine is sitting in the 2nd bedroom, surrounded by my other sewing things, packed boxes, partially packed boxes and packing materials :)

Make do or do without, right?! I prefer making do!

Linking up here!


And guess what tomorrow is... DAY 1 of the Hexie Blog Hop!! Yippee!

Hand-Pieced Block Pillow

Once upon a time...

 ...I participated in a hand-pieced quilt-along hosted by Erin @ Why Not Sew? (quilt-along info here)...

...and I had an "oopsie" block that came out too big...

... and so it has become a pillow :) 

It matches the quilt with a little bit of a black border with the larger black-spotted space (some of the blocks in my quilt needed a black border just to make them the 6 1/2" they were supposed to be! My hand-stitching wasn't always the most accurate!).

I quilted it with gold thread to match my left-over binding from another project. It has an easy envelope backing. Next time, I'll make the pillow covering a tad bit bigger as this one came out quite plump once I added the pillow form!

I'm still working on finishing this thing. It needs to be basted, quilted and bound... but then it will be ready to hang in my sewing room!

If you're bored and interested in seeing my progress on the quilt-along click here!

(Just a quick glance at my planning for this pillow... I love Grizz's engineering paper!)

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Stained Glass Quilt Blocks

No, you will not see stained-glass-window-inspired quilt blocks in this post... but you will see a few of my hand-pieced blocks looking like stained glass!

I had set the sampler quilt on our drying rack in front of our patio door after taking pictures of it outside. But I just had to take a few more pictures after I saw how cool they looked with the sun shining through them! I hope you enjoyed!

Works in Progress

I don't think I can count finishing a quilt top as a true finish, 

but I'm pumped anyways! 

This past week, I finally finished this quilt top. I can't say that much about it, just in case the recipient is reading this :)

I can say that most of the fabric is from my stash - except for the cute farmer cotton! The other fabrics include corduroy, shirting fabric, seersucker, etc. I ordered the binding yesterday, but I need to quilt it first!

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After this weekend's garage sale finds (I found vintage sheets for a quarter!), I finally decided to cut into my stash and sew something with them :)

I followed Jeni's tutorial here: Giant Vintage Star Quilt at In Color Order

I'm still trying to improve matching up seems and making sharp triangle points, so I'm very, very happy with how the center of this star came out... don't look too closely at the other seems though! Some came out well, and some I just stopped trying to fix...

I'm still deciding if I should keep this one or if I should gift it to someone... but first, I need to quilt and bind...

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 And, did you think I had stopped my hand-piecing quilt-a-long with Erin at Why Not Sew?.. ? Nope! I stuck with it :) Here is my little sampler quilt, all sashed and bordered!

All twelve blocks, hand-pieced and hand-sewn together. Now to hand-quilt it... wish me luck with this upcoming new experience! 

(So the very bottom right block is supposed to have appliqued "bees" on it... I skipped it... I just couldn't get myself excited to applique on such a little block PLUS I didn't want to make it more special than the other ones... so it's just a Honey Bee block without the appliques.)

The binding will be scrappy, using the fabrics from the blocks. I'm quite excited to see that come together. I just have to decide if I want to stick with the hand-sewn-thing to create the binding. I could cheat and sew the binding together with the machine and then attach it by hand... or I could just do it all by hand. Decisions. Decisions.

~*~*~*~*~

 So, there you have it. Three quilt tops done. Three quilts that just have to be quilted and bound. At least most of my family-celebration sewing is done for a while, so I do have more time to quilt. There still is one more family birthday coming up that I want to sew something for, and then Father's Day: to sew, or to buy... now that is a question :)

Linking up here: WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Three More Hand-Pieced Blocks

I finished three more hand-pieced blocks, which means that there is only one more left before the Quilt-A-Long is done! I can't believe I survived it this long :)

Block #9 Square in a Square

I really enjoyed sewing this one - there's just something fun about trying something different and having it work out. Piecing the triangles to the inside square and then having them come out straight felt like a miracle :)

Block #10 Log Cabin

This one is a favorite, mostly because it is what my mom usually sews for quilts. The quilt on her bed and the quilts she made for us kids' weddings were all log cabins. Besides, what's not to love about a block that you don't have to match up seems?!

Block #11 Flying Geese Pinwheel
This one was not one of my favorites... I definitely need more practice with triangles and making sure the points all line up and don't get lost in seems!

So, here they are. Only missing one! Bring on FRIDAY!

*Check out Why Not Sew? for the tutorials!

Two More Hand-Pieced Blocks

 Block #7 Card Trick

Block #8 Friendship Star


The blue fabrics are a random bunch - thrifted, remnants, and even some scraps from sewing pants for my newest nephew. The purple fabrics are also a mixed bunch - the dark purple is from one of my favoritest (yes, I did just type favoritest) dresses I ever made for 4-H and the light purple is from a quillow I made my niece for Christmas.

I only have 4 more blocks to sew and we're done! Wow, it's gone by fast. I have Block #9 cut out and waiting for a day of subbing to finish it ;) I HAVE TODAY OFF! (I don't usually have a day off from substitute teaching, so I'm greatly enjoying today!)

Reminder: The QAL is from Why Not Sew? - go check it out!

Block #6 Shoo-Fly

It took me awhile to get started on this block. Perhaps the thought of 52 pieces stopped me. Also, after not exactly loving my fabric choices from last week, I was nervous choosing the print for this week. I knew I wanted blue, so I grabbed this thrifted sheet from my stash and cut it up... Looking at it now, perhaps I should have went with a darker shade, but with a black-based sashing around it, I think it will pop a lot more!

That's right. 52 pieces. And I survived! It was actually a pretty fun block to make. The instructions over at Why Not Sew? (the "leader" of the Hand-Pieced Quilt-A-Long) said to trim the half-square triangles once they were sewn together. I chose not to do that (I believe lazy is the word to describe me sometimes). I still turned into a 6" square - 6.5" with seam allowances of course :)

I think I may be crazy for showing you a close up of this... a few tucks, a few mismatched seams, but it all comes together, right?

 Here they all are together... even the rouge Blue Bear Paw... all my hand-pieced blocks so far... 6 more together!

 Another shot. I'm proud :)

 I look forward to the upcoming blocks, since I'll have more options for arrangements. But I'm still planning on a black-ish sashing and border with a scrappy binding to bring it all together.

 As for the giant? He'll get a special project. At the moment I'm thinking of creating something new that will replace something old in the following picture:

 Can you guess what I'm planning for Giant Blue?

Hand-Pieced QAL Block #5

If you've been around the bloggy-square lately (or even just Pinterest), you've probably seen plenty of these "Granny Squares." I like them because they do remind me of crocheted granny squares. I, however, am not sold on the scraps I used to make my first granny square. I'm still undecided.

All three fabrics come from 4-H outfits back in the day. The blue was a dress that I accessorized with a gold belt and a straw hat. The light pink was my first choice for a poodle-skirt... but when Mom was trimming around the appliqued kitty (I did a kitty instead of a poodle), she accidentally cut the fabric. So, we got the dark pink instead and started all over. She's going to love me for reminding her of that horrible day. I even had saddle shoes to go with that outfit. Gosh, I wish I had access to my childhood photo albums so I could scan some of my Fashion Review memories to share with you. Someday, once we're back in our home-state again, I'll let you see young-Dove's 4-H outfits!

Anyways, back to the block. It came together quickly - as in maybe an hour last Sunday night and a prep period at school on Monday. Like I said, I'm not sure if I like the fabric arrangement, so I might redo this one before I put my quilt together. Also, this block turned out about a 1/2 smaller than my other blocks.... just another reason to try again!

Head HERE to see the instructions and to catch-up on the QAL from "Why Not Sew?"!

Block #4 Take-Two

Still following Why Not Sew's Hand-Pieced Quilt-A-Long

This is Block #4 "Bear Paw"

Well, the 2nd take on this block ended up the right size... so that's a plus!

Thank you Mom for the fabric. I "stole" it when we were home over Christmas when I was "stealing" all of her scraps. It's from the last baby quilt she made. These yellows were part of a giraffe. I thought the swirls would work for a fuzzy bear paw too. Although, the more I look at it, the more it reminds of a sun... but I'm still saying it's a bear paw!

Tip: Pressing at the end can help hide lots of things, like the fact that the "claws" wanted to be a fan instead of a strait row. Even though I cut the half-square triangles smaller this time, they still didn't want to align with the swirly-fabric-square. (Sad, frustrated face).

And there are all the blocks in the same spot. Again, the blue one is too big for the quilt (hence the reason I needed to try again); but it's still hand-pieced and I'll still do something with it, so they're all still one big happy family :)

Block #4 Take-One

And yes, there will be a take-two post... after getting 4 half-square-triangles sewn together, I realized that I didn't use the updated measurements from the instructions. Well, there was no way I was throwing out those already-sewn hst sets, so I recut a few of the pieces to fit with my triangles. As I figured, the block came out about an inch too big. I am still happy with it, but it won't fit in the quilt. 

So, I'll sew another one with the correct measurements and I'll either make this block into a matching pillow or mini-quilt... or I'll just use it in the quilt's backing. 

I'm off to cut more tiny pieces! Wish me luck :) At least I'm familiar now with the Bear Paw block!

Block #4 In Process

When I first looked at this post this morning, I was a wee bit nervous. Yes, the Bear Paw quilt block is on my list to sew someday, but am I ready?! So many pieces... little pieces. Since the block ends up as a 6" square, you can imagine how little these pieces are!

 But, I gathered my courage and gathered my supplies.

 Before cutting out, we use a mechanical pencil to write the cutting lines and the seam allowances.

 This is how I know what to cut out. I have the blog post up with the piece dimensions so I know exactly what to cut without having to write it down first. Yay for smartphones!

 There's always the mistake when I do these... Do you see what I did wrong?

 And here are all the finished pieces... now I just have to sew them all together again!

Good thing we're going on an excursion this weekend; I should have plenty of driving time to sew! Woohoo! Check back on Monday for the finished block :)